At least eight federal agencies are investigating JPMorgan Chase at a time when the bank is raking in record profits, according to The New York Times. “Virtually every single major financial institution in this country has engaged in fraud at one time or another,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on the Thom Hartmann Program. “So the question that has to be raised is whether fraud is the business model of Wall Street? I think you can probably make a case that it is.” Among many examples, JPMorgan Chase in 2011 paid $156.3 million to settle fraud charges related to the financial crisis.  No one went to jail. In a separate settlement that same year, the bank paid $56 million over allegations that it had overcharged members of the military on their mortgages.

In fact, no executives of any bank have gone to jail over the 2008 financial collapse that plunged the country into recession. In stark contrast, more than 800 savings and loan officials went to jail during the thrift debacle in the 1980s. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently made a startling observation. The biggest financial institutions have become so enormous that even accusing them of a crime could have a negative impact on the national economy, Holder said. Sanders says one solution would be to break up too-big-to-fail banks. His legislation to do that has become a key target for Wall Street lobbyists, according to New York magazine.

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In addition to the settlements reached by JPMorgan, other financial institutions have entered into multi-million settlements in fraud cases. For example:

• State and federal authorities in 2012 decided not to indict banking giant HSBC for transferring billions of dollars to Iran and enabling Mexican drug cartels to move money illegally through its American subsidiaries.  Instead, HSBC was fined $1.92 billion for this criminal behavior and no-one went to jail.
• Wells Fargo in 2011 agreed to pay an $85 million fine to settle claims made by the Federal Reserve that it steered borrowers into costlier loans and falsified data in mortgage applications.  No one was sent to jail for this misconduct.
• Citigroup in 2012 was fined $590 million over claims that it deceived investors by hiding the extent of its dealings in toxic subprime debt.  No one went to jail. Earlier the same year it  paid $158.3 million to the U.S. government for systematically violating U.S. mortgage regulations.  No one went to jail. In 2010, Citigroup was fined $75 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for repeatedly making misleading statements and improper disclosures in its quarterly earnings releases during the financial crisis.
• Bank of America in 2011 was fined $335 million for discriminating against African American and Hispanic homeowners.  According to the Justice Department, about 200,000 qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers were charged with higher interest rates 'solely because of their race or national origin.'
• Bank of America in 2010 was fined $150 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors following the announcement that it would acquire Merrill Lynch.  U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in New York said he “reluctantly” approved the settlement calling it “half-baked justice at best” and “inadequate and misguided,” while adding that the law compels him to defer to regulators seeking approval."  No one went to jail.
• Goldman Sachs in 2010 was fined $550 million after the SEC claimed that Goldman had sold lousy mortgage-backed securities to investors without telling them that billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson had been betting that these mortgages would fail.